Northampton Saints U18s travel to Kingston Park this Saturday in Round 5 of the PREM Next Gen Academy league with assistant coach Reece Marshall targeting another strong defensive performance.
Last weekend, the young Saints denied East Midlands rivals Leicester Tigers from scoring a single point on their home turf as they returned home with a 33-0 victory.
“In our previous fixtures before playing Tigers, we’ve probably conceded far more points than the players and coaches would be happy with,” Marshall explained ahead of taking on Newcastle Red Bulls.
“But when you challenge a team to play a lot with the ball and then work really hard defensively, to do both of those things, both sides of the ball, is really challenging at this age.
Tries from recent England U19 debutant Charlie Tamani and England U18 forward Jack Lewis, as well as a hat-trick from back-row Will Hepher, helped secure the convincing result as Northampton started their next block of academy league fixtures.
On Hepher’s performance, Marshall said: “He’s a very impressive rugby player, and he has all the ability in the world to kick on in the future.
“He runs some great lines like the tries against Tigers, and he runs the line out, so he can do a bit of both.”
The young Saints head to the north east second place in the league with three wins from four; however, Marshall is under no illusions that the Red Bulls will be an easy task for the U18s.
“I think this period of fixtures is tricky for every team; no one really knows what to expect from each other,” Marshall continued.
“To get that one out the way last weekend with a real positive result against Tigers on Derby Day, and not concede any points, and taking the five points home puts us in good standing for Newcastle.
“The aim, as always, is to work on those things that we still think we can get better at. I still don’t think that was our best performance against Leicester, and hopefully the boys will come out firing up at Newcastle next week.
“Newcastle beat Leicester earlier in the season, and whilst that team will vary from the group we’ll face, we know they’ll probably be good at playing and moving the ball.”
The U18 fixture (kick-off: 4.30pm) will be followed by the respective U17 sides going head-to-head in a friendly (kick-off: 6.30pm).